The petition also challenged Section 13 of the Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2009 which included Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PC Act) in the list of predicate offence under the PMLA.
Section 13 of PC Act deals with criminal misconduct by a public servant and punishes a public servant for receiving illegal gratification by using their public office, misappropriating property or owning property beyond known sources of income.
The amendment effectively provides that an accused who is alleged to have committed an offence u/s 13 of the PC Act can also be investigated under Section 3 (money laundering) of the PMLA.
“It is humbly submitted that offence u/s 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 cannot lead to generation of proceeds of crime and thus, PML Act in such cases cannot be invoked against the person alleged to have amassed disproportionate assets. Thus, the inclusion of offence u/s 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act is violative of Article 20(2) of the Constitution and Section 300 of CrPC.”
Source: Barandbench
